I’m reaching out to the community because one of my friends came close to blowing their trading account, but luckily managed to avoid it. However, I’m curious about those who have experienced this situation firsthand. For those who have blown their trading accounts, what was the first thing you felt you needed afterward?
Was it financial support to help you recover, emotional backing from friends or family, or perhaps guidance on financial planning to prevent it from happening again? Did you seek advice from other traders, or did you take time to reflect on your strategy and mindset?
I genuinely want to hear your experiences and insights on how you coped with the aftermath of such a challenging event. Your stories could provide valuable lessons for those of us who are still navigating the ups and downs of trading.
Here’s what you need to hear—stop trading. If you’re close to blowing up your account, you’re gambling, not investing. Ask yourself what edge you have over professionals with years of education and experience. If you can’t answer that with a specific strategy or advantage, you shouldn’t be trading.
@Eren
This is exactly right. If your edge is just thinking you’re smarter or have done well before, you don’t have an edge. I had a real edge once, made good money, but eventually took losses because I thought I would always be right. I had to stop trading, focus on something else for a while, and learned that obsession can turn into gambling. Now I only rebalance retirement accounts.
I busted my account trading 0DTE iron condors, ended up with a negative balance of about -$9,000. It messed me up for a week. But I learned an important lesson about options and margin. I took a break from day trading, built up positions in ETFs like VOO, and eventually went back to trading, but with safer strategies. My brother, who’s a finance professional, helped put the loss in perspective, and now I always close my spreads instead of letting them expire.
During the COVID era, I bought into a meme stock, was up $30k, sold, then bought back in thinking it dipped. Averaged down, lost most of my account. Lesson learned.
During COVID, I worked with a life coach for free, which helped me get back on track. I returned to school, got a degree in finance, and now apply what I’ve learned to my trading. It took a lot of time, but now I’ve recovered my losses. It takes hard work and patience, but it’s possible to come back stronger.
I’ve blown my account more than once. What I needed was time to get better and truly understand the market. Don’t stop—just get back up, improve your strategy, and keep going.